return is made at this point to the chapters for Septuagesima (pp. 5, 6) and Sexagesima (p. 6), with the collects from Septuagesima to the beginning of Lent (pp. 6-8), which are succeeded by the collects for Ash Wednesday and the three days following (pp. 8, 9). The group of Lenten chapters (pp. 9-14) and the corresponding group of collects (pp. 14–18) cover the period from the first Sunday to the end of the fourth week in Lent, the chapters and collects for Passiontide (pp. 18–24) being arranged in a series of separate groups. The Eastertide chapters follow (pp. 24-29), with a large group of collects (pp. 29–36), headed by a rubric for Easter Even (p. 29) and embracing the whole of the season. There is an hiatus in this series (p. 32), and, after the opening chapters for the Litania major of Rogationtide (p. 36), there is a long gap which brings the order of the seasons to an abrupt end. The MS. is resumed with the conclusion of a collect in a series of Orationes quotidianae (pp. 36-39), some of which are missing (p. 38), followed by another general series pro peccatis (pp. 39–43).

(2) The Sanctorale, beginning with St. Stephen (26 Dec.) and ending with St. Thomas the Apostle (21 Dec.), is almost complete. There are, however, a gap in the August feasts (p. 64), between the rubric of St. Stephen, bishop and martyr (2 Aug.) and the incomplete collects for St. Lawrence (10 Aug.), and another in the September feasts (p. 70), between the collects for the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin (8 Sept.) and the incomplete chapters for Michaelmas (29 Sept.). Special chapters are provided only for the principal feasts, viz. St. Stephen (26 Dec., pp. 43, 44), St. John the Evangelist (27 Dec., pp. 45, 46), the Innocents (28 Dec., pp. 47, 48), the Nativity of St. John Baptist (24 June, p. 55), St. Peter (29 June, pp. 57, 58), St. Paul (30 June, pp. 59, 60), the octaves of St. Peter and St. Paul (6 July, p. 61), the Assumption (15 Aug., p. 65), the Nativity of the Virgin (8 Sept., pp. 68, 69), St. Michael (29 Sept., pp. 70, 71), and St. Andrew (30 Nov., pp. 78, 79). As already noted, the Purification is provided for in the Temporale.

(3) The groups of chapters and collects which constitute the Commune Sanctorum break off short towards the end of the collects for many martyrs, and conclude with a section of collects ad crucem salutandam (pp. 93, 94).

(4) The benedictions, opening with two collects for the blessing of palms on Palm Sunday (p. 95), are of a miscellaneous character, and include a full series of benedictions and collects for the hallowing of virgins (pp. 103-106) and, with the epistle and gospel, for the solemnisation of matrimony (pp. 106-111). The hymn Auctor salutis unicus is

inserted on pp. 111–112. The rubrical titles indicate the nature of the various benedictions, but are occasionally omitted. Thus the collect Omnipotens sempiterne deus (p. 95) belongs to the series which follows, under various rubrics, on pp. 96, 97, and is repeated on p. 97 under the rubric Oratio] ad capilaturam. The collect with a similar beginning on p. 103, following a set of prayers for ordeals by water, is that found in the Gelasian Sacramentary for the reconciliation of penitents in Holy week. The rubric of the prayer and exorcism for ordeal by hot iron (pp. 112, 113) is defective. The English benediction on p. 114 appears to be for common use before any form of ordeal. On p. 123 the first two collects, like the last on p. 122, are for use when holy water is sprinkled in a house. They are followed (pp. 123, 124), without any rubric, by collects for the successive hours of the day from prime to compline, two collects for the protection and intercession of the apostles (p. 124: Exaudi nos deus and Omnipotens sempiterne deus qui nos omnium), collects of oblation and pro peccatis (pp. 124, 125), and the prayer against poison traditionally ascribed to St. John the Evangelist when he drank the poisoned cup at Ephesus (p. 125).1

(5) The addenda include a series of benedictions before the lessons for the various seasons (pp. 126-129); benedictions of honey and milk, fruit and bread, and wells (pp. 129-131); two miscellaneous collects (p. 131); the hymn Auctor salutis (pp. 131, 132; also on pp. 111, 112); the key-words for the responsories, versicles and antiphons from the apocryphal histories and prophetical lessons (pp. 132-135); and the hymns Audi benigne, Vexilla regis, and Ad cenam agni, for Lent, Passiontide, and Eastertide respectively (pp. 135-138).

B. Part II (pp. 138-162), owing to the mistake in the arrangement of the leaves for binding, begins on p. 145 with a series of benedictions (pp. 145-148). At the foot of p. 148 the paragraph OR' Uespertine laudis officia introduces vesper collects, followed by memorials of the Cross (pp. 148, 149), and a second set, followed by memorials of the Cross, St. Michael, the Blessed Virgin, the saints, and the dead (pp. 149–158), the mass of the Holy Trinity (pp. 158, 159), and masses belonging to the Commune sanctorum. These stop short on p. 162 at the beginning of the epistle for many martyrs (Hebr. xi, 36); but, on turning back to p. 138, we find this continued without a break, and this series of masses

1 See Franz, Kirchlich. Benediktionen im M.a., Freiburg i. B. 1909, i, 294 sqq.

proceeds as far as p. 143. On pp. 143-145 collects for the day-hours are added upon a spare leaf in the original.

C. Part III (pp. 162-199) begins with a group of hymns for prime, terce, sext, nones and Sundays (pp. 162-166). After a three-fold general benediction inserted on p. 166 come the little chapters, confiteor, etc., for prime (pp. 166-172), the little chapters for terce, sext, and nones (pp. 172, 173), suffrages for the faithful departed and for absent brethren (pp. 173, 174), collects and suffrages for vespers (pp. 174–180), hymn, collect, etc., for compline (pp. 180–182), and the incipits of psalms for prime and other hours (pp. 183, 184). On p. 185 are the four collects of St. Cuthbert with the English memorandum recording the date of their insertion. The incipits of the antiphons, versicles and responsories at matins and lauds for the first three and (in part) the fourth Sundays in Advent (pp. 185–187) are a further insertion. The rest of the matter is miscellaneous and non-liturgical; an alphabetical list of abbreviations and suspensions of Latin words (pp. 187–192), notes on the creation of Adam and the nature of the winds (p. 192), on Roman imperial dignities (pp. 192, 193), on titles of kings (p. 193), on the orders and dignities of the Church (pp. 193, 194), with additional notes on other ecclesiastical titles, etc. (p. 195), the burial-places of the apostles (pp. 195-197), concluding with an alphabet of words composed on the general theme of sin and redemption (pp. 197–199), and a summary of the numbers of the canons of the four Gospels (p. 199).

The chief feature of the Collectar which distinguishes it from later books of the same type is the treatment of the chapters and collects for the seasons as compact blocks, without indication of the special days or hours at which they may be used. Dr. Frere has pointed out that the Durham book thus represents an earlier stage of this type of liturgical compilation than the eleventh-century Leofric Collectar, which was drawn up for the secular church of Exeter, and the Wulfstan Collectar, which came from the monastic church of Worcester. In this respect it corresponds to the arrangement of the Liber Capitularis of Stephen of Tongres, which Dr. Frere regards as the common source of the whole group. This work, it is true, is known to us only by description. Its compiler was bishop of Tongres, i.e. of the see which was finally settled at Liége, from 902 to 920. About the beginning of the fifteenth century, Radulfus de Rivo, dean of Tongres, quotes an important passage from the preface,

addressed by Stephen to Robert, bishop of Metz, in which the general scheme of the book is given, followed by a summary index of its contents. These consisted of (1) the proper chapters, etc., for the principal feasts from Trinity to St. Andrew's day, including also the Invention of the Cross and all four feasts of the Blessed Virgin; (2) Commune Sanctorum ; (3) Temporale; (4) Sanctorale, described generally as Collectae de omnibus propriis festivitatibus totius anni. The comments by the dean of Tongres show that, while in his day there was some variation in local usage throughout the Netherlands, Stephen's book was still widely used in the churches of the district.

All the authorities, however, who mention this Liége book imply definitely that, in addition to collects and chapters, it included the versicles and responds appropriate to each chapter. Thus Stephen in his preface says: per singulos horarum cursus singula capita cum responsoriis vel versibus sive etiam collectis statui. This general account of the contents is borne out by the allusions made by Folcuin and Sigebert of Gembloux. On the other hand, versicles and responds are entirely omitted from the first and principal part of the Durham book and appear only in the additional sections. This omission does not necessarily exclude it from the group associated with the Liége Liber Capitularis, but it is a departure from the plan followed by Stephen and pursued during the following century in the Collectars of Leofric and Wulfstan.

Hitherto we have referred to the MS. as the Durham book. But Durham was merely its eventual home. The book itself was compiled at an earlier date than the settlement of the congregation of St. Cuthbert at Durham towards the close of the tenth century. There can be no doubt that it, or at any rate part of it, was at Chester-le-Street before the migration to Durham: the English memorandum appended to the four St. Cuthbert collects on p. 185, and the interpolated mention of Aldhun, the bishop under whom that migration took place (p. 143), are proof of this. It may fairly be postulated that the book was in existence and was in the North of England during the last twenty or thirty years of the tenth century, if not earlier. It is necessary, however, to say here that the Collectar which forms the foundation and most essential portion of the MS. bears no trace of an origin among the congregation of St. Cuthbert. It was composed elsewhere and at an earlier period, and found its way to Chester-le-Street by some unexplained means.

This part of the introduction is not concerned with the palaeographical evidence by which the date and growth of the MS. may be determined. Liturgically, however, it falls into line with the compilations of which Stephen's book appears to have been the archetype, by the substitution of chapters taken from the prophetical books and epistles for those taken from the historical books of the Old Testament, during the seasons when the lesson at matins was historical. If, therefore, it was not directly influenced from Tongres or Liége, it shows at all events the presence of influences which were affecting the composition of similar books at the beginning of the tenth century. As has been said already, it contains no sign that it was compiled in the North of England, or in England at all. Among the festivals which find a place in it, there is none which is distinctively English. The collects for the feast of St. Cuthbert were inserted among the supplementary matter, in order to supply a defect which would be felt in the chief centre of his cult. On the other hand, it shows no feature which connects it directly with the Low Countries. In this respect, however, important evidence is wanting. Among the gaps in the MS. there is one in the Sanctorale for September, after the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin (8 September). The next leaf begins in the middle of one of the chapters for Michaelmas (p. 70). Thus, if there was any commemoration of St. Lambert, the patron saint of Stephen's diocese, whose feast was celebrated on 17 September, it has disappeared.

On the other hand, while the order of feasts in the Sanctorale corresponds generally to that of the Sacramentaries originating in Roman use, it is marked by special features which indicate a possibly Gallican source. Lingard remarked that, of the collects in the first part of the book, there are not a dozen which may not be found in the Leonine, Gelasian and Gregorian Sacramentaries. This understates the number of exceptions; but it is at any rate clear that the compiler founded his material upon a composite Sacramentary, in which such sources were mingled. But a special and exceptional prominence is given to St. Martin. His summer and winter feasts are alike commemorated, his Translation on 4 July by a single collect (p. 62), his Nativity on 11 November by the unusual complement of six collects (pp. 76, 77), which certainly would not have been given in a book for use outside a church where he was specially honoured. Moreover, the second of the six collects appears to have been composed for the use of such a church upon an occasion when it was visited by a large number of worshippers, as it makes special